What makes Japan & Japanese culture so unique & compelling to you ?

Of course Japan isn't perfect and has it's negatives just like any other country, but what makes and always has made Japan and it's people, culture, food, history, geography, etc., so unique and compelling to you, compared to other countries ? Or if you've travelled to Japan before, what made (and still makes) Japan, it's geography, people and culture, so beautiful, unique and compelling to you ?

If this has been previously discussed in depth here before, please give any thread links.

Ever since I was little, I was exposed to a Japanese environment in a passive way.The Japanese song mom sings to me before I go bed, the Japanese murmuring in the background while I am staying over at my grandparents... Those were the memories I had growing up. However, as a kid, I did not notice what that was nor do I care much about it.

It was not until I was older that I begin to realize the elderlies around me lived a very different life then mine. It was the time of Japan colonization of Taiwan. There were bitterness and resentment, but from what I feel around the elderlies, they miss and treasure the old days. The more I try to find out the more similarities I found between Japanese and elderly Taiwanese. I was really amazed by all these.

I guess I am just very curious in finding what why the Japanese affections and experience that myself.

Not to be a nitpick, but if you are going to join a message board to randomly PM people about your school project asking us to basically do the legwork for you, it might be a good idea to consider that those people might notice your thread on the same subject that omits the reason behind asking said question, and think of it as a bit underhanded.

That's not to say that the thread's subeject has no merit, but it's a topic that has been addressed before, and there is nothing stopping you from doing a search on your own. I've got to tell you that I'm much more inclined to help out someone whose a contributing member of the community here, than someone who seemingly stumbled in while doing a quick search for "Japan Reference." How about you start by telling us what, if anything, makes the topic of Japan so compelling to you?

KL70 said:

Of course Japan isn't perfect and has it's negatives just like any other country, but what makes and always has made Japan and it's people, culture, food, history, geography, etc., so unique and compelling to you, compared to other countries ? Or if you've travelled to Japan before, what made (and still makes) Japan, it's geography, people and culture, so beautiful, unique and compelling to you ?

Click to expand...

One thing that's always struck me as geographically unique about Japan is that it's the only country in the world with an area of 377,835 km², and not one kilometer more or less! Pretty unique, if you ask me.

Anyway, I share nice gaijin's sentiments, and that's one reason why I've decided to give a snarky comeback to this question instead of a serious answer.

By the way, "it's" is an abbreviation for "it is." If you want the possessive, it's "its" (without the apostrophe).

Good luck on your project.

KL70 said:

If this has been previously discussed in depth here before, please give any thread links.

Click to expand...

Please use the search function. By the way, is Paul Mills one of your classmates?

I'll be nice...sorry if the board was trying to make a point.

What makes it compelling is how different everything is from western culture. The homogeneous society, the use of an alphabet with other than roman letters, the group mentality, the diversity in such a small area, the widespread use of public transportation, the lack of judeo-christian ideals leading to widespread censorship of media, the FOOD, the attitudes and political structure.

Most of all what makes Japan compelling is the people. As with any other country, once you know someone from there, it becomes easier to get interested in its culture, traditions, language, etc. I'd say this is increased if you have Japanese ancestors, as I do.

Well, my work day is done. I'm off.